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Hippaul
Hippaul is a minor non-player character in Final Fantasy IX who lives in Alexandria. Hippaul's father owns the Alexandrian inn, and Zidane notices that the boy seems to be more adept at managing it than his father. Hippaul is involved in a short-lived minigame available only when the party returns to Alexandria from their excursion on the Outer Continent. Gameplay Card stash Something of a Tetra Master expert, Hippaul's stash of cards can be found in the bell tower and it varies depending on when found. If found before leaving the town in the beginning of the game, the stash contains an Ironite card, a Goblin card and a Fang card. The player must either refuse Puck's offer to see the show, or simply visit the tower before trying to get Vivi's ticket stamped (stamping the ticket triggers Puck's appearance). After obtaining the cards, the player can then return to him. When the party returns to Alexandria later, the stash includes rare eidolon cards, Shiva and Ramuh, as well as the other cards if they were missed earlier. Racing Hippaul Hippaul can be challenged to a footrace when the party is back in Alexandria after visiting the Outer Continent. The race is available for a short time and the opportunity to race him ends as the player agrees to see Ruby's play. Hippaul, along with his mother, can be found on the main street in Alexandria, Hippolady wanting her son to lose weight. The player controls Vivi and must press and in quick succession to run. Racing Hippaul is the only way to obtain the rare key item Athlete Queen (doing this also earns an achievement/trophy in the latest versions). Genji and Ribbon cards can also be won. Hippaul gains levels as he loses to Vivi. He quickly becomes extremely fast and difficult to defeat. Every ten levels up to 80 the player is rewarded with a prize; there are no rewards at levels 90 or 100. Hippaul gains five levels if Vivi beats him by a lot, but he only gains one level otherwise. There are several methods for making the game easier: The most basic is to reconfigure the controller so that instead of and , the buttons would be, say, and . Another technique on the original system, albeit one with minimal effect, is to open the disc cover or disc tray to slow the game down slightly. If playing via emulator, decreasing the game's frame-rate effectively increases the rate at which button presses are received making it trivial to defeat Hippaul even at higher levels. Jumping the gun is impossible, so one can start pressing the buttons before the race begins to get into the rhythm. If the player is willing to treat the controller roughly, it can be easier to configure opposing shoulder buttons and place the controller upside down on a solid surface, rocking it left and right to press the buttons. "Spoon Strats" was made famous by the Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time speedrunner ZFG who would rub a spoon on the controller to press buttons rapidly; the smooth surface of the rounded side of the spoon allows for very quick and smooth button presses without damaging the controller. When playing on an emulator, this autohotkey script wins every run without mashing keys, even on normal frame-rate: q:: LOOP { SEND, {n down} sleep, 1 SEND, {n up} SEND, {m down} sleep, 1 SEND, {m up} } w::Pause One should assign "n" to and "m" to in the emulator settings, start the loop with "q" when starting the first race, then pause with "w" at the finish line. The player can restart the next run with "w" again. (Tested on ePSXe emulator.) Etymology The ideas for Hippaul and the item Athlete Queen derive from a Greek Myth on Atalanta where the huntress Atalanta decrees that the man who can beat her in a footrace becomes her husband. Many men die in the attempt, until a man named Hippomenes takes up the challenge and, with the help of the Goddess Aphrodite's golden apples, wins the race. Trivia *If the player played the racing minigame Mogrich will have a letter in Treno's Knight's House from Kupo: From Kupo to Mogrich, There's an amazing new champion sprinter in the town of Alexandria! The sprinter's name is [''Hippaul/Vivi]*. He's amazing! Remember his name! Kupo!'' If the player beat lv. 60 in the Hippaul minigame, Vivi will be the name. If not, it's Hippaul. es:Hipito Category:Characters in Final Fantasy IX Category:Minigames in Final Fantasy IX